Sunday, August 26, 2012

The appearance of the JONES surname in Wales before 1600 is finally completed with Cardigan and Pembroke counties. All counties in Wales have the occurrence of an individual with the surname JONES except Anglesey. [Isle of Mon.]

In the black angled strips:

For Cardigan is Thomas Jones [99/40] 1558-1579.

For Pembroke is Owen Jones [242/66] 1558-1603.

It would seem that the JONES surnames moves essentially east to west, with Pembroke being the last county to have an individual JONES get involved in the English legal system. Anglesey held out! It would be interesting to investigate this further. At least if you had an ancestor from Wales before 1600 [with the surname JONES] you might be able to begin your genealogical investigation. Anglesey would be least likely to have a JONES family.

Friday, August 17, 2012

The next two counties to see the surname JONES were Carmarthen and Denbigh. For the years 1553-1555, a Griffith Jones appears in Carmarthen [1015/68-69]. A Robert Johnes is listed from Denbigh at a little later date [1362/55-56].

The figure above shows the geographic positions for these two Welsh counties. Denbigh being the most northern, and Carmarthen in the south. Both border the "middle counties" and suggest again the spread of the English legal system into Wales following the Act of Union 1536. It was during these times that the English surname system became the law of Wales.

Please remember that the numbers in brackets above give the references for the legal cases as they are recorded in the Public Record Office, "List of Early Chancery Proceedings" with first number being the "File No.", and the second being the "Nos." of the case in that particular file.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

The middle counties of Wales became the next area of JONES surname 1547-1553. The counties are shown in green above, Radnor being 1st, with William Jones [14/96]. Brecon was 2nd, with Roger Jones [1238/45-46]. Merioneth was 3rd, with William Jones [1238/50]. Montgomery Co. was 4th, with Richard Joones [1238/56-60] This is based on the record numbers shown following each name, which is assumed to be recorded in chronological sequence in the legal records. Thus, the south's influence seems to be the direction of the appearance of English influence in the legal system of Wales as it followed the Act of Union, 1536. On, and on, it would go...more to come. See the prior post which describes the blue, pink, and orange counties as shown on the map above.